We construct a dynamic takeover law index using hand-collected data on legal provisions and empirically examine the effect of takeover regulation to protect shareholders on shareholder wealth for bidders and targets in a multi-country setting. We find that a stricter takeover law increases the...

On 24 January 2019, a revised Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers (the Take-overs Code) was promulgated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on the advice of the Securities Industry Council (the SIC).The revisions are to ensure that takeover practices targeting at companies with the...

The Thirteenth Directive on Takeover Bids of 2006 has to be revised on the basis of experience gained in the five years of its application. This revision includes an examination of the control structures and barriers to takeover bids for those bids that do not fall within the scope of...

I model the choice between a negotiated block trade and a public tender offer as means of acquiring control in a firm with a large minority blockholder. Potential acquirers differ in their (privately known) value-creation ability. In equilibrium, block trades are made by lower ability acquirers...

This paper provides comprehensive, detailed documentation of major corporate governance reforms (CGRs) undertaken by 26 advanced and emerging economies. Have these reforms impacted corporate investment decisions by altering investor protection (IP)? To answer this question, we estimate the CGRs'...

This study investigates whether conference calls accompanying M&A announcements in Europe provide valuable information for capital market participants and hence induce an abnormal stock price revaluation on the bidder’s equity. Based on handpicked data for transactions between 2008 and 2012 we...

This article examines the decades-long decline of investor protections enshrined in the Securities Act of 1933, most notably Section 11, which imposes near strict liability on corporate insiders and certain secondary actors, primarily underwriters. The provision, the most potent in the federal...

Vital in preserving managerial accountability, the firmly established one share, one vote rule provides shareholders with limited rights to elect directors who appoint managers and to approve certain extraordinary transactions. Without the deterrents of risk of capital loss and fear of removal,...

This paper analyzes how announce changes in the corporate control (takeover) of Endesa, Hidrocantábrico and Scottish Power affect their stock market returns and the impact that these events have on the stock market returns of competitors of the target firm. Using an “event study”...

This paper examines the relation between firm ownership structure, bilateral political relations and firm performance using a sample of 219 cross-border mergers conducted by Chinese listed companies from 2000 to 2013. First, we find that government-affiliated bidder abnormal returns do not...